Prelude to A Murder
by The Atomic Cafe
Summary: Parody fic. Danny get a mysterious message.


**Prelude to a Murder**

**By Dimgwrthien**

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: NY or affiliates.

Author's Notes: I would like to stress, once more, that this is a crack!fic and a parody.

"Mac? Stella? Flack? Someone?" Danny looked around the doorway into the Trace Lab. No one was in there, the lights dimmed down low, soundless. He closed his eyes tightly, taking off his glasses and rub them with his other hand. He was too tired from his double-shift that Mac forced on him and from the past ten minutes of torture.

Bored, unable to concentrate on dirt from a severed horse head found in Central Park (Was that a crime? Danny wasn't too sure), he checked his messages on his cell phone. Danny liked to keep his cell phone on his belt no matter what. The background of the screen was a picture he had taken of Flack just a few weeks before. The cop held an ice cream cone that they had gotten after chasing down one of the few ice cream men that passed near Danny's apartment. The ice cream dribbled down Flack's hand, which Flack was licking off slowly, almost obscenely.

The first message was Lindsay. The second was from Lindsay. The third was from Lindsay. The forth was from Lindsay. The fifth was from Sonny Sassone. He had spoken in a low tone, his voice guttural and almost terrifying. "Monday at eleven." Then a sound of him hanging up. It had to be from the prison, where Danny had seen the cops bring Sonny.

Mac would know how to deal with it. But after searching the entire lab, he hadn't seen a trace of any of them, including his boss. Danny sighed, took out his cell phone, and, after looking at the background and grinning, called Aiden.

"Hey Danny," Aiden greeted by the second ring.

Danny frowned. "How'd you -"

"Caller ID. It's great. See, I have you down as 'The Dan Man', so whenever you call, it pops right up! Also got this new ring tone." Aiden sounded proud of herself. "Can't remember what the song is, though. Somethin' by The Who, I think."

Danny thought about it. "I never knew that had that for cell phones."

"Dunno what it is with you guys. I'm so used to just saying 'Burn', but now you can tell who's calling you first!"

"Hmm." Danny raised his eyebrows. "Maybe I'll check it out."

"So… why d'ja call?"

"Oh. Right. I got a message -"

"Is it from that Lindsay girl again?" Aiden sounded slightly offended. Ever since she was fired, Aiden insulted Lindsay. It wasn't for replacing her, but because of how often 'that Montana slut' followed Danny and tried to flirt with him. Aiden understood what was between Danny and Flack (in rather intimate detail from that one night they all spent together).

"Only a few," Danny said, shifting slightly and switching the phone to his other ear. "Anyway, I'm…" He took a deep breath and looked at his free hand. It was shaking slightly. Maybe another visit to the psychologist would help. "It was Sonny."

Aiden listened to him patiently as Danny retold the story of the phone call. Once he ended, she remained silent for a moment before asking, "Wanna come over for dinner?"

Danny gagged silently. Aiden could only make one thing, and that was chicken parmesan. He knew that if he wanted it, he would have to deal with her explaining everything to him like a cook book. It was rarely worth it. Unless Flack was there, of course.

"Nah. But.." Danny searched for something to sound less offensive. "How 'bout you come over here and we go out to dinner somewhere?"

"Oh." Aiden sounded put out. "Flack isn't around, is he?"

"Nope. Been lookin' for them all."

"Hmm." Aiden kept silent for a moment. "Go check some more. I'll be there in half an hour, alright? You stay safe."

Danny was about to answer back when he heard the dial tone. He hung up his phone, taking a final glance at his picture of Flack, then put it away.

"Mac?" he called again, continuing his walk around the building. "Stella?"

A nearby door stood ajar. Danny kept a hand on his phone at his belt, ready to take it out if there was anything that shouldn't be there. In the back of his mind, he wondered who he would call then. Mac's cell? No answer there. Aiden? Maybe. The police? He snorted.

He swung the door open slowly, listening to it creak. Once he saw inside, he put a hand over his eyes. "Sorry, guys."

Mac sighed from inside. "I told you we shouldn't have stayed in here."

Then came Peyton's voice. "Fun while it lasted."

Stella laughed. "Yeah. Hey, hand me my shirt, will you?"

Danny bent down, picking up a white shirt and a black bra. He tossed the shirt to Stella. "Whose is this?"

"Mine." Peyton raised her arms, waiting for Danny to throw it. Danny sighed, balling the bra up, then threw it across the room.

"You're disgusting, Mac." Danny shook his head, uncovering his eyes. Stella was trying to find her shoes, then slipped them on. Peyton hooked her bra on, smiling at Mac. Mac stood between the two girls, his shirt unbuttoned and torn at the chest. "If you're going to - to pimp the girls in the lab, could you at least do it after work?"

Stella raised her eyebrows, looking amused. "Job doesn't stop, Danny."

Mac, however, looked offended. "I'm not pimping the girls in the lab! If I were, Lindsay would be here!"

Danny felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned, afraid, then saw Lindsay behind him. Lindsay stared at the two girls and Mac. "Damn. How come you never call me beforehand?"

Mac bit his lip. Stella answered for him. "He can only handle two at a time. Any more and he…" Stella winked at Lindsay, who laughed quietly. Mac glared at Stella.

"It's true. I mean, remember when -"

Mac silenced her with a look. He turned to Danny. "What was so important that you needed to sneak around the lab?"

Danny blinked. "Well, forget about that. I'm curious how you got Stella and Peyton in the same room."

Stella glanced at Peyton, then to Danny. "Mac had to… do some bribing," she whispered.

"Like what?" Danny wanted to make a note of how to do this.

"Let's just say you shouldn't go over to Mac's anytime soon, okay?" Stella winked at him. Danny felt his mouth do dry. Damn. Maybe he should start listening to Mac more.

"So, what's going on?" Mac asked again.

"Oh, that." It didn't seem important to Danny anymore. "I got a message."

They all listened patiently as Danny retold the story about the message. As he spoke, his eyes kept trailing over Stella's over-exposed chest, Peyton's bra strap that peeked out from under her shirt, and Mac's bare chest. (He had to admit, Flack wasn't the only person in the lab with a nice body.) He didn't bother looking behind him at Lindsay's concerned face - she was dressed.

Afterwards, only Lindsay spoke. "Well, it's obvious what the message meant."

Danny glanced at her. Of course it was. It was just the connotation of it that he didn't want to know.

Lindsay continued. "Monday is named after the moon. Moon day, see? Well, the moon should be out at about five or six tonight, so that's the time he's implying. Now, he's talking about where the most moonlight shines, which he all know would be over a telescope. Eleven… 'k' is the eleventh letter in the alphabet. 'K' usually stands for kilometer. Back to Monday - Monday can be translated to 'Montag' in German, just like the main character of the book 'Fahrenheit four-fifty-one'. There are six letters in 'Montag' and thirteen in the title of the book. Add them together - nineteen. He wants you to go nineteen kilometers past the nearest telescope at fix or six tonight."

Danny blinked.

"I think he meant he wants to kill Danny at eleven on Monday," Stella told her, frowning. "It's Monday tonight."

"It is?" Danny asked.

Stella nodded. "Mac always has Sunday as his off-day, and I didn't get any yesterday. How long has it been since you checked your messages?"

Danny thought about it. "A week, I think." At their looks, he said, "Look, I lost my phone, alright? Dropped it off the Brooklyn Bridge."

He didn't add that he had done it on purpose. He only wanted Flack to fish it out for him. That involved Flack running out to the lab, pretending he found something in the river, getting the lab scuba gear, getting into the water, finding the phone, and coming out dripping wet so that Danny could towel him dry and sex him up until he was warm. Luckily, it took a while for Flack to stop complaining about the river, which provided Danny with quite a few hours of fun.

No one asked. "Have you told anyone about this?" Mac asked.

Danny nodded. "Yeah. Aiden. She said she'll be over here soon."

Lindsay glanced away, looking behind them. Danny didn't bother to turn.

"Hey, Danny," came Aiden's voice. "What're you doing?"

Danny finally looked, hearing the sharp edge to Aiden's voice. Her eyes were trained on Lindsay, who quickly put an arm around Danny.

"Telling them about the message?" he offered.

"No. I meant _that_." He stared at Lindsay's arm now. "I thought that you and Flack -"

"You and Flack?" Peyton asked. "But I thought he and Hawkes -"

"Flack and Hawkes?" Danny asked. "Where'd that come from?"

Peyton shrugged. "You see things in the morgue, if you catch my drift."

Danny froze. How could Flack run off with Hawkes? That explained why he hadn't seen either recently.

Stella looked confused. "But Hawkes said that you and him -"

Peyton bit her lip. Mac stared at her.

"And who is _that_?" Aiden asked, looking at Peyton. "Hawkes' lover? Thought he had better taste than that. Besides, he was with that Devin girl last time I was here."

Mac continued to stare at Peyton. "You and -"

"I can explain!" Peyton wrung her hands nervously. "It was before I really knew you, alright?"

"We've been together since - practically since when you were hired!" Mac glanced at Stella. "Please tell me you aren't -"

She shook her head. "Nope. I'm innocent."

Mac kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you. _One_ loyal girl."

Aiden's jaw dropped. "Mac!"

Danny glanced up at Aiden. "'Mac!' as in 'You're a pimp!' or 'Mac!' as in…"

Mac and Aiden shared a look. "Pimp," Aiden answered, her cheeks flushing. Mac winked at her.

Danny remained oblivious. "Wait! What's going on? Who's doing what? Is Flack cheating on me?"

Stella coughed slightly. "Danny, I think that's one of those things you're supposed to keep secret."

He blushed. "I suppose…"

"Alright, alright." Mac lifted his arm in defeat. "I'll tell the story."

"You've been with the most people," Stella muttered. "You'd know it."

He glared at her. "Alright. Let's see…. Nearly thirty years ago, Claire and I had been dating. We weren't married yet, of course. However, she… well, she liked people, and she was a popular girl. She admitted that she was seeing another man behind my back."

"Who?" Danny asked.

Mac paused, looking ashamed. "Tom Mitford."

"The attorney?" Danny blinked. "The district attorney?"

Mac nodded. "Anyway, we made up fairly quickly."

"Only because you were having sex with a few women on the side," Stella muttered.

Mac shot her another look. "Soon enough, she was pregnant. We couldn't figure out with _who_, though. It was either myself or Tom. Neither of us wanted a DNA test to see who because we were ashamed enough of this. We got married, and she had the baby.

"Now, she thought it was Tom's. Secretly, I thought so, too. We finally gave him up."

Danny blinked. "What?"

"We gave up the baby," Mac answered. "We wanted to make sure our child was… ours."

"No. What does this have to do with anything?"

Mac sighed. "Let me get to it." He thought about where he was. "The baby went to an orphanage. The same one as Stella did, ironically."

"Still don't know how you managed to get him into a Greek orphanage," Stella sighed.

Mac ignored her. "He was adopted soon after by parents of… dubious origin. We didn't want them to take the baby, but they did."

Danny still didn't understand this.

"Right before Claire died, we found him again. He was grown up, a strong man. A bit… a bit unstable, perhaps, but better than I expected. Claire and I were proud. We figured it was _my_ doing, if only because Tom's child would never look like that."

"Who was it?" Danny asked. Even if it was a waste of time, the story was interesting.

Mac blinked. "You."

Danny didn't react at first. Then he muttered, "Holy shit." Then he thought it over. Then he panicked. "Oh, shit! Shit, shit, shit! I've slept with my own father!"

Mac covered his face with his hands. Everyone stared at him.

"What?" Peyton asked, her eyes wide. Aiden's mouth fell open again.

"We didn't mean to," Mac muttered, staring at the floor through his fingers. "Flack came to me, and Danny caught us, so…"

Stella made a disgusted sound. "Why didn't you ever tell me that part?"

Mac glanced at her and didn't answer. "I also have one more thing to admit…"

Danny looked up fearfully. At this rate, maybe Flack was his brother and Aiden his sister.

"I know Sonny more than you think." At Danny look, Mac frowned. "No, I've never had sex with him. But…" Mac reached behind Stella, who turned slightly to watch his hand. He pulled out a gun from his holster that had been on the ground. "I'm supposed to kill you now."

Danny's eyes widened. "But - but you're my father! Would you kill me now?"

Mac shook his head. "I'm sorry. I made this deal with Sonny a very long time ago, even before I knew you were my son. He asked me to hire you. He's never felt the same towards your 'family' since the gypsy cab incident."

"What?"

"That was his personal driver who could get him out of trouble. The driver was arrested after that, you know, and Sonny couldn't handle it. He finally started getting the blame for what he did, and now he wants to kill you in revenge."

Danny shook his head. "No. That wasn't my fault! Why did you agree to it?"

"That's a different story." Mac pulled the safety off the gun, slowly standing up, the gun still aimed at Danny's head. No one moved. "I'm sorry, Danny."

Danny looked around, pleading to the others. "Guys - you can't let him kill me!" He tried to stand, but Stella was up first, stepping on his wrist. Her sharp heel dug into his skin, tearing it.

"Sorry, Danny." She looked down at him, looking ashamed and distressed. "Sonny got us into the deal for the cost of our lives. It's your or all of us."

When he looked, Danny saw that Peyton had a hard hold on his shoulders. She didn't meet his eyes.

"_I'M YOUR FRIEND_!" he shouted at them, turning to Aiden. His voice started to break as he spoke. "Aiden - you can't let me die!"

Aiden didn't say a word, but moved to Stella's side, securing him in place with the other two girls. She stared at the floor.

"I wouldn't do this!" he shouted. "Guys! Don't! I wouldn't have sold you out! We can all get out of this! We can all stay away from Sonny and all of us can live!"

Mac's hand shook as he held the gun.

"I'M YOUR FUCKIN' FRIEND!" Danny shouted at them once more, feeling his blood run cold. "DON'T DO THIS!"

There was a blast, the sharp light, and two guns were left smoking.

Danny opened his eyes, looking around. Mac held a hand against his chest, just under his heart, then fell against the nearest table, his breathing hard. Lindsay sat over Danny's lap for a moment, then collapsed to the ground. A bullet was lodged deep into her heart, and Danny knew she was dead before he even checked.

Stella let go of Danny, and he sighed as the pain left his wrist. She moved towards Mac, moving him into her chest, replacing his hand with hers. She breathed as heavily as he did, staring at him, keeping her other hand over his forehead. He watched the two for a moment, the room silent except for their breathing.

Danny moved Lindsay off his lap, waiting until Peyton and Aiden let go of him to do anything else. He could only look around at each of their faces, seeing something changed. He was used to seeing the life and color of their faces. Instead, he only saw their pale expressions and wondered how human they still were.

Stella slowly reached for her cell phone, dialing an ambulance. Her voice was close to a sob, and she refused to look up.

Danny stood, holding against the wall for support. Something about the day wasn't right. How could it have started so normally and ended like this?

He could only wait until Monday night, hoping that it wouldn't be Hawkes and Flack with guns on him next. If Flack wore leather with that gun, he could handle it, but otherwise, he figured he would go insane.


End file.
